Error 1500: Another Installation is in Process Vista Bugs and Problems Discuss Error 1500: Another Installation is in Process in the Windows Vista forums; Hello all, I'm new to this forum so I apologize if I'm posting this question in the wrong place. I recently bought a Dell Inspiron 531s running Windows ...

[bonescrusher]

Hello all,

I'm new to this forum so I apologize if I'm posting this question in the wrong place. I recently bought a Dell Inspiron 531s running Windows Vista Home Premium. Great computer. Except now I have a problem and I don't know if its a Windows based problem or not. I'm just looking for answers so hopefully someone can help. I recently ran Windows Update and rebooted to a black screen. I done a system restore to a point about 2 weeks earlier. This happened on 2 different occasions. In the mean time, I recently discovered I can no longer install new software. It doesn't matter what software (Photoshop, Windows Install Cleanup Utility, etc) As long as it is an MSI based installation, I am receiving this error... "Error 1500. Another installation is in progress. You must complete that installation before continuing this one."

I've tried several recommended solutions to no avail. I'm at my wits end because I can't install anything and I can no longer retreive Windows Updates. I don't really care about the updates issue at this point. And please don't give me a "Re-Install Windows reply"!

Thankyou in advance.

Dan

[crabby]

Hiya!

And

Usually, the issue is that Msiexec.exe is already running. If you open task manager you can check this and if it is running just highlight it and click 'End Process'.

If it's not running, post back and I'll have another think

crabby

[bonescrusher]

Thankyou for your reply. Let me give you a small list of the things I've tried as well. I've checked to see if msiexec.exe was running and it isn't. I've also checked the registry under "HKEY_Local_Machine/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Installer" to make sure there isn't a subkey for an installation in process. I've also completely emptied the temp directory. I tried to install the Windows Installer Cleanup tool, but since it has to be installed, I receive the same error. Any ideas?

[bonescrusher]

After much more reading/research I came across an article on the HP website explaining to end the msiserver process in taskmanager. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do this in taskmanager or in the control panel/services. From what I gather, if there is an installation in process, you will not be able to end msiserver.exe.
I came across some old utilities for Windows NT - kill.exe and tlist.exe. Tlist.exe gives a list of running processes along with a process ID number. I ran this and found 2 instances of msiexec running that were not showing in taskmanager. I used kill.exe to kill the processes using their ID number.Both of these utilities run from a command prompt.

So why do you think these processes were invisible to taskmanager? Seems like Vista is just full of surprises.

[crabby]

When in taskmanager, did you have the 'show system processes' ticked?

Also, have you sourced what is using these instances?

crabby

[bonescrusher]

I think I'll crawl under a rock now! No! I wasn't showing 'system' processes because I wasn't showing processes from all users. I don't know what the source of the instances was. I tried to find info in the event log but I didn't come up with anything. I did want to mention that since I killed both processes, I was able to install all Windows updates with no problem. This makes me wonder if that failed update I mentioned earlier might have been the culprit. Good luck and thanks. I hope someone learns a valuable lesson from reading my mistakes!

BoneZ

[crabby]

Lol... it's quite a common one, so don't beat yourself up about it. It wasn't a default option in XP.

And I think you can use the hardware and performance monitor to check what program each process relates to?

crabby

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